UK and Indonesia sign trade pacts

Reading Time: 1minuteIndonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gives a speech in London on his first visit in 33 years

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has signed a string of agreements on trade, defense and education with UK Prime Minister David Cameron during his first visit in 33 years to London from October 31 until November 2 where Yudhoyono was welcomed by the Queen but also was facing hundreds of activists and protesters that are questioning the Indonesian government’s human rights adherence in the West Papua conflict.

However, Yudhoyono brought with him a large business delegation and had “constructive discussions on a number of subjects, with the focus on the UK-Indonesian trade and investment relationship,” said a spokeswoman for Cameron’s Downing Street office on November 1.

Total trade of Indonesia with the UK in 2011 was £2.4 billion, and exports of goods and services from the UK to Indonesia were worth £970 million in the same year, an increase of 28 per cent over the year before, which makes a bilateral trade volume of £3.37 billion. Cameron and Yudhoyono announced a commitment to increase trade to £4.4 billion by 2015 .

They also announced a £7.5 billion deal for oil giant BP to develop liquid natural gas in Indonesia, and signed an agreement strengthening links between the two countries’ universities.

The Downing Street spokeswoman said Cameron and Yudhoyono have also sealed a defense deal which would boost co-operation in “research and development, investment and production,” without giving further details.

This, however, was a red rag to activists of Survival International, a human rights group that has accused the British government of putting commercial interests ahead of human rights. The campaigners highlighted the UK government’s links to an Indonesian “death squad”, which allegedly provides training for Indonesian security forces who have been involved in the killing of Papuan independence activists, the group said.

Reading Time: 1minuteIndonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono gives a speech in London on his first visit in 33 years

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has signed a string of agreements on trade, defense and education with UK Prime Minister David Cameron during his first visit in 33 years to London from October 31 until November 2 where Yudhoyono was welcomed by the Queen but also was facing hundreds of activists and protesters that are questioning the Indonesian government’s human rights adherence in the West Papua conflict.

However, Yudhoyono brought with him a large business delegation and had “constructive discussions on a number of subjects, with the focus on the UK-Indonesian trade and investment relationship,” said a spokeswoman for Cameron’s Downing Street office on November 1.

Total trade of Indonesia with the UK in 2011 was £2.4 billion, and exports of goods and services from the UK to Indonesia were worth £970 million in the same year, an increase of 28 per cent over the year before, which makes a bilateral trade volume of £3.37 billion. Cameron and Yudhoyono announced a commitment to increase trade to £4.4 billion by 2015 .

They also announced a £7.5 billion deal for oil giant BP to develop liquid natural gas in Indonesia, and signed an agreement strengthening links between the two countries’ universities.

The Downing Street spokeswoman said Cameron and Yudhoyono have also sealed a defense deal which would boost co-operation in “research and development, investment and production,” without giving further details.

This, however, was a red rag to activists of Survival International, a human rights group that has accused the British government of putting commercial interests ahead of human rights. The campaigners highlighted the UK government’s links to an Indonesian “death squad”, which allegedly provides training for Indonesian security forces who have been involved in the killing of Papuan independence activists, the group said.